I am about to create new heavens   and a new earth;the former things shall not be remembered    or come to mind.                                Isaiah 65:17 This very familiar passage from Isaiah is in the lectionary for this coming Sunday, and it’s a good one for San...

When his time of service was ended, he returned to his home.            Luke 1:23 It’s now less than two months until I retire. I apologize to those who are probably tired of me talking about this; you’re probably saying to yourself, “retire already!” What with Advent...

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow. Isaiah 1:16-17 You may have heard that we don’t just read the Bible, but...

For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but, having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.                   ...

Who laid the earth’s cornerstone when the morning stars sang togetherand all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? Job 38:6b-7 I am writing this column from Jeonju, Korea (more specifically, the Jeonju Best Western—yeah, really; welcome to the global economy)....

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29:7 With the start of October, I feel like I’m in the home stretch towards retirement. But there are many...

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of theword, that person immediately falls away....

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. John 9:35a (The Message) In last week’s Presbytery meeting, we approved some important basics for our church life, such as new information on benefits for pastors and their families; presbytery minimum...

“But where shall wisdom be found?And where is the place of understanding?Mortals do not know the way to it,and it is not found in the land of the living.” Job 28:12-13 I feel like I talk about COVID more than other people, but I think it was a watershed moment for us....